


make the first move

by writing_way_too_much



Series: courage, my dear [1]
Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Music Store, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Rated teen for language, Social Awkwardness, im such a bad author, jesus this took forever to write, the sungjin/brian is background and implied sorry, way longer than it should have bc i just kept forgetting about it, wonpil is literally the sun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 20:54:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14269329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writing_way_too_much/pseuds/writing_way_too_much
Summary: sungjin affectionately tells him that he’ll never get a relationship with that kind of attitude. jae, a bit less affectionately, tells sungjin to stop being so invested in his love life.





	make the first move

**Author's Note:**

> hi i've had one of the worst mondays of my life so i finished this oneshot. i hope you're having a better day than me.
> 
> disclaimer: this is completely fictitious, i only own the plot

jae is not what you would call brave.

brave, or outgoing, or social at all, really.

he likes to keep to himself, mind his own business. he isn’t much for small talk and despises interacting with strangers.

sungjin affectionately tells him that he’ll never get a relationship with that kind of attitude. jae, a bit less affectionately, tells sungjin to stop being so invested in his love life.

brian was his roommate in college. brian--now, brian is what you would call brave. brian is outgoing and social and good at thinking on his feet. people love him, sungjin especially. brian is how jae survived in college.

dowoon, brian’s younger brother, constantly teases jae about his social ineptitude. dowoon follows in brian’s footsteps of being fantastic at human interaction, and he never lets jae forget it.

jae works in a music store just outside of what can be considered downtown seoul. business is slow during his shifts, which he is more than okay with. the most interaction he gets is when dowoon pops in for his daily visit.

judging by the sound of the bell above the door tinkling, he’s just arrived.

“jae!”

“that’s hyung to you,” jae replies without looking up from the guitar he’s tuning. “show some respect for your elder, yoon dowoon.”

dowoon rolls his eyes and gives jae an exaggerated bow. “my sincerest and most profound apologies, hyung. how will you ever forgive me?”

jae finishes tuning the last string and carefully sets the guitar onto its stand. it’s one of the more expensive ones and he really, really doesn’t want to damage it.

“you know i’m kidding, right?” dowoon asks, slightly anxiously. jae laughs and ruffles his hair.

“i do. what’s so exciting and important?”

“oh!” dowoon brightens again. “a new guy just started working in the bookstore across the street!”

jae is a huge fan of books and an even huger fan of the bookstore across the street. it’s owned by a nice older couple and the aesthetic is on point. however, jae is not a huge fan of new guys.

“okay?” he says warily.

“he’s really cute, hyung.” dowoon raises his eyebrows, dodging the bony elbow to his ribs. “seriously! sungjin-hyung went over there yesterday to get brian-hyung a new book for his birthday and he says the new guy is just your type!”

“that’s great,” jae replies. “tell sungjin that he needs to stop worrying about my love life.”

dowoon sighs. “just go talk to him, hyung. he won’t bite your head off. if nothing else, you can hide in the shelves and escape his notice while being too awkward to say hi.”

“i’m being exposed and i don’t appreciate it.” jae takes up his place behind the register. dowoon leans on the counter, still talking.

“i would go with you but then the guy might think that we’re dating--”

“i’m going to stop you right there,” jae tries to interrupt. unfortunately for him, dowoon is a verbal freight train.

“--since i have to be really close to you in public places since you get scared so easily--”

“dowoon.”

dowoon pauses to take a breath. “yes, hyung?”

“stop revealing my secrets,” jae says.

“never.”

dowoon shoots him a smile before his phone buzzes with an alarm and his eyes widen in an “oh shit” expression. “damn, that’s my alarm for meeting my parents for lunch. see ya, hyung!”

just as quickly as he came, dowoon is gone again, leaving nothing but the tinkling of the dusty bell on the top of the door in his wake.

jae sighs and puts his head in his hands.

\---

the door to the bookstore sticks a little when he pushes it open, which makes him even more nervous than he already is. jae takes a deep breath, reminds himself that he doesn’t have to follow through with this, and heads to the science fiction section.

he pretends to browse the new releases, sweat collecting on his nose and making his glasses slip down. he takes them off briefly, cleans them with the hem of his shirt just for something to do with his hands.

“can i help you?”

jae startles, nearly dropping his glasses. he crams them back onto his face, feeling his cheeks flame. “uh, i’m just browsing,” he says in a very small and slightly squeaky voice.

“got anything specific in mind?”

the employee is  _ adorable _ , dark brown hair feathered over his forehead, thick glasses, a nose and mouth that look like they’ve been sculpted. he blinks up at jae, a carefree smile on his face, and jae wracks his mind for a response.

“i like science fiction,” he says helplessly.

the employee--his name tag reads _kim_ _wonpil_ \--tilts his head. “never would have guessed, since you’re in the science fiction section.”

jae’s blush deepens. “um.”

“let me know if you find anything or require my assistance!” wonpil says, smiling at jae. apparently the sun has decided to come down to earth and embody itself in the body of this man.

“o--okay,” jae stutters out.

he sneaks glances through spaces in the shelves at wonpil, who floats around the store like he’s always worked there. jae is pretty sure that this is the cute new guy dowoon was talking about earlier. wonpil seems at home in the bookstore, straightening books, directing people to the genre they want, brimming with a kind of innocent excitement that jae hasn’t seen anyone possess before.

jae sighs and rests his forehead against the edge of the shelf, cursing his total inability to simply talk to people. it isn’t that he’s afraid, he doesn’t have social anxiety or anything, but he hates being awkward, and talking to strangers is about as awkward as it gets.

the thought briefly crosses his mind that he wishes wonpil weren’t a stranger. he boxes it up and shoves it in the back of his head.

jae leaves the store without buying anything.

\---

“i’m disappointed in you.”

“sungjin, it’s like seven in the morning,” jae whines, nevertheless stepping back and allowing sungjin to enter his apartment. “oh, hi, brian, dowoon--why did you bring everyone?”

“it’s an intervention,” dowoon informs him.

“an intervention--sungjin, what the hell?”

sungjin smiles sheepishly at jae. “you need to get cute guy’s number.”

“his name is wonpil,” jae mumbles before he can think better of it.

brian raises his eyebrows. “and how did you find that out?”

“it was on his name tag!”

“mhmm.”

“get out of my house,” jae tries, but it’s weak. having these three for friends means that jae gives in to their demands more often than not. secretly, he appreciates it.

dowoon hops up onto the counter and makes himself at home, swinging his legs and accidentally kicking a cabinet. sungjin pours himself a cup of coffee from jae’s machine. brian slumps over the table, cheek sticking to a stray napkin.

“can’t get rid of us that easily,” sungjin says. he takes a sip of coffee and smirks. “you know you love us.”

“debatable,” jae says, gritting his teeth.

unfortunately for jae, since it’s sunday, none of them have work, and he doesn’t either. they’re free to force jae to do whatever they want.

whatever they want turns out to be physically dragging jae out of his house and into the city. jae recognizes the streets after a bit and starts to protest.

“you can’t make me go talk to wonpil,” he argues. “the bookstore isn’t even open on sundays.”

“shit, you’re right,” brian says, wide-eyed. he’s much more awake now that sungjin let him have some of the coffee he stole from jae’s kitchen.

“aren’t you guys supposed to be wiser since you’re older?” dowoon scoffs. “it’s open from nine to noon on sundays, to catch the early-morning bookworms or some weird saying that basically boiled down to the owners wanting to be able to pay their employees more.”

“i’m going to pretend that what you just said makes sense,” sungjin says, staring at dowoon. “so it’s open?”

“please, no,” jae begs, but it doesn’t do him any good.

the bell above the door tinkles cheerfully when brian shoves it open. sungjin and dowoon both have a hand on one of jae’s shoulders, forcibly pushing him through the doorway.

“guys, he might not even work this shift--”

“hi, how may i help you?”

sungjin, dowoon, and brian disappear in a flash, leaving jae alone, scrambled, a little out of breath, face flushed from the sharp november wind and exertion.

wonpil studies jae for half a second, breaking into a grin. “hey, you’re the science fiction dude!”

“the what now?” jae asks.  _ he remembered me? he  _ remembered _ me? _

“the science fiction guy!” wonpil repeats. “i’m kim wonpil, nice to meet you.”

“um, park jaehyung, but call me jae.” he hesitantly takes wonpil’s outstretched hand and shakes it for half a second before shoving his hands into his pockets.

“okay, jae it is. you want to hide in the science fiction section again today?”

wonpil’s tone is light, but a hot wave of embarrassment sweeps over jae anyway.

“sorry,” he mumbles, looking down at wonpil’s shoes. they’re black converse and are clearly old, but they have sharpie drawings all over the toes and the laces are done up in an interesting pattern. “i’m just not a people person, i guess.”

“would you be willing to make an exception for me?”

jae glances up, startled. “i--would i--what?”

when wonpil giggles, it shakes some of the embarrassment and replaces it with a strange swooping feeling in jae’s chest. “you heard me, jae-ssi. are you off tomorrow?”

“in the morning,” jae says, stunned. “i know that’s not a great time to get coffee or whatever--”

“i like watching the sunrise,” wonpil says. he smiles. it’s almost painfully bright. “i’ll just text you when i wake up and you can meet me somewhere and we can go find a rooftop to sit on.”

“doesn’t that require me to have your number?”

“thought you said you weren’t a people person.”

“apparently i’m making an exception for you,” jae says, feeling himself grin.

dowoon nearly tackles him when he exits the shop, the back of his hand tingling from the old-fashioned kiss wonpil had bestowed on it after entering his number in jae’s phone. “how did it go how did it go how did it go how did it go?”

“down, boy,” jae says, laughing when dowoon pouts at him. “it went--really fantastic, actually. i have his number and we’re going to watch the sunrise tomorrow morning.”

sungjin stares disbelievingly at jae. “you’ll get up voluntarily for this guy?”

“must really be something special,” brian adds in.

“have you  _ seen _ his smile?” jae asks.

his three crazy friends that he truly does love grill him for details as the day goes on and jae smiles through all of it, high off the promise of a text in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> if anyone wants, i might write a sequel about their first kiss or smth
> 
> comments and kudos make me smile <3 and lord knows i need to smile today
> 
> hmu on tumblr @bestfluteninja
> 
> much love, thank you as always for reading


End file.
